Saturnalia

About Saturnalia

Saturnalia is made and published by the Italian studio Santa Ragione, the makers of Wheels of Aurelia and MirrorMoon EP. It came out on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and the Epic Games Store on October 27, 2022, and on Steam and GOG on November 8, 2023. It is set in Gravoi, an ancient village in Sardinia, during its winter solstice festivities in December 1989, and follows four characters, Anita, Sergio, Claudia and Paul, whose stories are tied together by the village's traditions.

The village is an elaborate maze, and no two layouts are the same: when all of your characters die, the streets reconfigure themselves into a new form. Your story and puzzle progress and key items carry over, while the tools and consumables you were carrying are lost, so each attempt teaches you more. You explore largely unguided, reading the map boards posted around the village, using tools to open shortcuts, and striking matches to see and to examine clues. Matches run out, so they are worth saving.

Each of the four characters has their own ability, suited to a different side of exploring and investigating. Together you uncover the ritual at the heart of the village and look for a way to stop it, while a creature stalks the streets. There is no combat: when it finds you, you run.

Its look is unlike most horror games: artwork and animation inspired by stop-motion and rotoscoped film, in saturated pinks and purples with scratchy texture. Its visuals draw on 1970s giallo films and Sergio Bonelli comics, and Sardinia was picked for its folklore, stories and masks. The music is by Michael Manning and Nicolò Sala.

You can tune the challenge. Presets include an Adventure mode that keeps the village layout and makes the creature less aggressive, a Permadeath mode and an Italian Extreme mode, and custom options such as infinite matches or stamina. The Steam release added a first-person mode, a hybrid mode, a photo mode, more accessibility options and a black-and-white noir filter.

A playthrough takes about eight hours by HowLongToBeat's count, ten by its makers', and ends in one of several endings. The makers warn of violence, domestic abuse and some gory imagery such as corpses and blood trails, with references to suicide, substance abuse, sexual violence, racism, homophobia, sexism and abortion. The rating boards note blood, violence, strong language and drug use. It suits players who liked the folk horror of Mundaun or The Excavation of Hob's Barrow and want something stranger and less guided.

How to play Saturnalia

1. Buy it on Steam, GOG or the Epic Games Store for PC (Steam also has a Mac version), or on PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X|S, or Nintendo Switch.
2. Pick a difficulty preset: Adventure keeps the village layout and makes the creature less aggressive, while Permadeath and Italian Extreme are harder.
3. Explore the village with one of the four characters, reading the map boards posted around it to find your way.
4. Strike matches to see in the dark and to examine clues, and keep track of how many you have left.
5. Run when the creature finds you, since you cannot fight it; if every character is lost, the village reshuffles and you carry on with your progress.
6. Solve puzzles and open shortcuts to piece together the ritual and stop it.

Tips

• Learn the landmarks rather than the streets: the layout changes after everyone dies, but your story and puzzle progress do not.
• Do not waste matches lighting the way; save them for clues and puzzles.
• Tools and consumables are lost when everyone dies, while key items stay, so use what you carry rather than hoarding it.
• A controller works better than mouse and keyboard; the game has full controller support.
• If the reshuffling or the chases wear you down, the custom options let you turn on infinite matches or infinite stamina.

Questions